The Maid's Version

by Daniel Woodrell

Overview

The American master's first novel since Winter's Bone (2006) tells of a deadly dance hall fire and its impact over several generations.

Alma DeGeer Dunahew, the mother of three young boys, works as the maid for a prominent citizen and his family in West Table, Missouri. Her husband is mostly absent, and, in 1929, her scandalous, beloved younger sister is one of the 42 killed in an explosion at the local dance hall. Who is to blame? Mobsters from St. Louis? The embittered local gypsies? The preacher who railed against the loose morals of the waltzing couples? Or could it have been a colossal accident?

Alma thinks she knows the answer-and that its roots lie in a dangerous love affair. Her dogged pursuit of justice makes her an outcast and causes a long-standing rift with her own son. By telling her story to her grandson, she finally gains some solace-and peace for her sister. He is advised to "Tell it. Go on and tell it"-tell the story of his family's struggles, suspicions, secrets, and triumphs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781410465771
Publisher:	Gale Group
Publication date:	02/26/2014
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	189
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Five of Daniel Woodrell's eight published novels were selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Tomato Red won the PEN West Award for the Novel in 1999. Woodrell lives in the Ozarks near the Arkansas line with his wife, Katie Estill.

What People are Saying About This

Edna O'Brien

"In prose both taut and lyrical, Winter's Bone vividly evokes the spirit of one little woman warrior.

Editorial Reviews

Woodrell’s (Winter’s Bone) evocative, lyrical ninth novel is deceptively brief and packs a shimmering, resonant, literary punch. In a grand “gesture of reconciliation” from his father, young Alek is sent to West Table, Mo., to spend the summer of 1965 with his grandmother, Alma Dunahew, a hardworking maid to a wealthy local. The bad blood between Alek’s father and Alma stems from her opinion of what transpired just before the 1929 Arbor Dance Hall explosion, a tragedy that claimed her outspoken sister Ruby and 41 others. Who was responsible? Gypsies who threatened the townsfolk? The preacher who believed “vil music, evil feet” deserved to be silenced forever? Or was it Ruby’s controversial new (married) beau? Sections about some of those who perished fall between chapters detailing an engaging yarn of hidden secrets, but also one that fast-forwards decades to find an adult Alek addressing a memorial vigil, finally getting the chance to talk about what Alma confided to her grandson during the pivotal summer they spent together. From an economy of poetic prose springs forth an emotionally volcanic story of family, justice, and the everlasting power of the truth. Agent: Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group. (Sept. 3)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Winter's Bone:

"If William Faulkner lived in the Ozark Mountains today and wrote short, powerful novels set in that little understood, much-maligned swath of rural America, he might sound a lot like Daniel Woodrell."

Los Angeles Times Book Review

"In prose both taut and lyrical, Winter's Bone vividly evokes the spirit of one little woman warrior."

Edna O'Brien

"The Maid's Version is stunning. Daniel Woodrell writes flowing, cataclysmic prose with the irresistible aura of fate about it."--Sam Shepard

"I'd gladly sign a petition to see Mr. Woodrell included on any roll call of America's finest living writers."--Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

"The Maid's Version is one more resplendent trophy on the shelf of an American master."--William Giraldi, The Daily Beast

"Further proof, as if we needed it, that Woodrell is a writer to cherish."--Adam Woog, Seattle Times

"Throughout this remarkable book, Woodrell is an unsentimental narrator of an era that is rendered both kinder and infinitely less forgiving than our own."--Ellah Allfrey, NPR Books

"Woodrell captures the run-down, put-upon underbelly of America better than anyone, because he knows it better than anyone."--Benjamin Percy, Esquire.com

"The Maid's Version will sweep readers away."--Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today

"A distinctive blend of lush metaphor and brisk storytelling."--Laura Miller, Salon

"In fewer than 200 pages, but with a richness of theme and character worthy of the weightiest Victorian novel, Woodrell brings West Table to life in the varied experiences of its sons and daughters. "--Wendy Smith, Washington Post

From the Publisher

★ 09/01/2013
This brief novel, set in the small Missouri town of West Table, centers on the mysterious 1929 explosion and fire at the Arbor Dance Hall and its effects on a local family across three generations. Among the 43 people killed was Alma DeGeer Dunahew's younger sister Ruby DeGeer. Forever after haunted by the incident, Alma, a maid for one of the town's wealthiest families, is nearly driven crazy by her belief that the tragedy was a criminal act—the result of a scandalous love affair between her sister and her employer. Years later, when Alma's grandson Alek is sent to spend part of a summer with his eccentric grandmother, he begins to learn of the town's secret history and of his family's role. VERDICT Drawing on real-life events that rocked his hometown and his family, Woodrell returns nearly a decade after his celebrated Winter's Bone with a story that feels less of a different time and more timeless—a stark, haunting tale of almost mythic power and sweep. [See Prepub Alert, 3/18/13.]—Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA

Library Journal

A grandson becomes obsessed with his grandmother's story about a small-town disaster from many years ago. Set in the Ozarks, the book is inspired by history and is far less noir-tinged than the author's earlier works (The Outlaw Album, 2011, etc.). Loosely based on the real-life West Plains Dance Hall Explosion of 1928, it centers on Alma DeGeer Dunahew, a maid with three children in fictional West Table, Mo. After years of bitter silence, Alma has chosen to unburden her story on her grandson, Alek. "Alma DeGeer Dunahew, with her pinched, hostile nature, her dark obsessions and primal need for revenge, was the big red heart of our family, the true heart, the one we keep secret and that sustains us," Alek says. Alma's younger sister Ruby may be a bit wayward, but Alma cherishes her. When Ruby is killed along with 42 other victims in the local Arbor Dance Hall, Alma is determined that the explosion was no accident. From these slim threads, Woodrell gives us many potential culprits, among them an Old Testament preacher and a gang of bank robbers, not to mention all the secrets and lies kept by the good people of any rural village. Short chapters reveal only the most telling and scarce details of Woodrell's lineup of characters, lending the story a spare, bitter charm. This may be a minor work for this major American writer, but no craftsman toiling away in a workshop ever fashioned his wares so carefully. A commanding fable about trespass and reconstruction from a titan of Southern fiction.

Kirkus Reviews